Spreadsheet vs FileMaker Database? Is my spreadsheet good enough to run my business?
If you’re asking this question, it’s likely you already know the answer.
When a spreadsheet starts cramping your style in project and client management, the signs usually show up in time waste, communication gaps, and missed opportunities.
What are the key factors and clues that you’ve outgrown your company spreadsheet?
1. Data Becomes Scattered and Hard to Trust
- Clue: You’re keeping multiple versions of the same sheet, emailed around or stored in different folders, and nobody’s sure which one is current.
- Symptoms:
- “Version_3_Final_FINAL.xlsx” appears on your desktop.
- Staff spend more time reconciling numbers than acting on them.
- Solution: You need a single source of truth.
2. Manual Updates Eat Up Time
- Clue: You’re spending hours copying, pasting, and reformatting instead of managing the actual work.
- Symptoms:
- Status updates require a manual roll-up each week.
- Late-night spreadsheet editing before client meetings.
- Solution: You need a time-saving system with auto-updates.
3. Lack of Real-Time Collaboration
- Clue: Two people try to edit at the same time and overwrite each other’s work—or can’t edit at all without sending files back and forth.
- Symptoms:
- You have to “call a meeting” just to update project statuses.
- Remote team members always ask, “Can you send me the latest version?”
- Solution: You need data that all team members from anywhere in the world can access at the same time.
4. No Automation for Repetitive Tasks
- Clue: You manually calculate deadlines, budgets, or progress each time instead of having the system update automatically.
- Symptoms:
- Forgetting to update dependent dates when one milestone shifts.
- Creating the same invoice or report from scratch every month.
- Solution: You need a system that lets you set a repetitive task/report to a single button click.
5. Poor Visibility into Project Health
- Clue: You can’t instantly see what’s on track, what’s behind, and who’s overloaded.
- Symptoms:
- Needing multiple clicks and filters to answer “How’s this project going?”
- Surprises like missed deadlines or budget overruns.
- Solution: You need a company dashboard.
6. Difficult Client Communication
- Clue: Sharing updates with clients means sending clunky, static spreadsheets they can’t easily interpret.
- Symptoms:
- Clients ask for clarification instead of saying “Got it, thanks.”
- You spend more time explaining the spreadsheet than the actual work.
- Solution: You need a client web portal.
7. Growth Feels Painful
- Clue: Adding new projects, team members, or clients requires you to build entirely new spreadsheets or restructure old ones.
- Symptoms:
- Spreadsheet formulas break whenever you scale.
- The more business you win, the more admin you dread.
- Solution: You need software that grows with your company.
✅ Bottom line clue:
If you find yourself thinking, “This spreadsheet used to help me, but now it feels like a bottleneck,”—especially when it slows decisions, makes information harder to find, or causes errors—then it’s time to move to a proper project/client management tool.
FileMaker Pro by Claris is the answer to all these issues! At HighPower Data Solutions, we’ve been building automated FileMaker systems for decades.
FM Pro is cross-platform and available for Mac, Windows, web, and mobile.
It provides these seven benefits compared to the spreadsheet problems listed above:
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It is the single source of truth.
FileMaker creates one place where all staff find data, information, and reality for your business. -
It automatically updates data and reports.
A FileMaker SYSTEM (Saves You Stress, Time, Effort, and Money) can run all scripts at night so that new reports and data are waiting for you every morning. -
All staff from anywhere can collaborate at the same time.
Because FileMaker data is hosted in the cloud, all employees can access it, no matter where they are located. -
Key reports can be attached to a button, so you can instantly get the data you need.
Scripts can be created quickly in FileMaker for complex reports. -
FileMaker dashboards show you the status of all company projects, clients, and income, at a glance.
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FileMaker can be integrated with the web to create client portals your customers can access without bugging you for information.
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FileMaker can grow with your company.
At HighPower Data Solutions, we’re on the fourth effortless-upgrade to the original system which has allowed our company to grow, and manage the growth as we go.